Rabies Vaccination?

mercedes10

I am travelling to India for 3 weeks in July (Golden Triangle-ish area: Delhi, Japiur, Agra, Varanasi). A rabies vaccination is one that the guide books says is "worth considering". Does anyone think it's necessary? I'm told that Varanasi has a problem with stray (rabid?) animals. I'd be grateful for any advice. I'm inclined to think that for a 3-week trip it's not worth bothering, but then I suppose you can just as easily get bitten in 3 weeks as you can in 3 months! Help please! Thanks!

Rob_The_Pom

Even if you have the vaccine, if you were bitten by a rabid dog you would still have to go and get a jab on the double.
The vaccine doesn't mean you are immune to rabies it just reduces the number of jabs required from 5 to 2.
I had the jab when I went to some fairly remote areas of India - but even then if I had been bitten I would have still had time to get to a hospital within 24 hours.

The main advice is consult your doctor.

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indiawise

I don't think that u need the vaccine. In any case once bitten or exposed to a rabid animal u'll have to get the shots anyhow

guerik

I wouldn't spend the money on it myself, but if I got rabies I'd only have myself to blame. Chances are no-one would notice though.
Steer clear of indiamike members (myself included) and other rabid animals and you should be fine :P

Bryan

the vaccine only means you've got a tad longer to get to the hospital
just avoid getting in a situation where you can be attacked by monkeys or dogs
At night carry a rock or a big stick for the dogs ...just in case
AS for monkeys ...dont argue with them and you'll be fine

In all my time in india never been bitten attacked or caught rabies though I have foamed at the mouth on occasion

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DianeN.

A friend of mine was travelling with her two children in Thailand last month. A monkey scratched her son, and they had to go and get the rabies shots immediately. After coming back to Japan it was a little hard to find a place that actually had the serum to finish up the round. He did not think that all those shots were much fun!
Luckily, all the shots were included in the travel insurance so she didn't have to pay the fortune they normally would have cost.
If you are traveling in very isolated places in India and will be around animals....then you might want to consider it. Otherwise, never get close to any animal if you can avoid it.

guerik

Another tip to avoid monkeys (rabid or no, they can be scary) - don't walk around with plastic shopping bags in your hands. They're clever enough to work out that it's where the food is, and will lunge at it and can easily scratch you at the same time. Or just steal your food

SitaParityaga

I'm an exceptionally paranoid person when it comes to vaccines, and I passed on getting the rabies vaccination on my last trip. DianeN and querik both have very good points. Especially the tip about monkeys. On a previous trip to Hardwar, my travel partner bent down to take a picture of a baby monkey, and suddenly a crazed mommy monkey came out of nowhere and tried to take a bite out of him. Moral of the story? Keep those plastic bags out of your hands and don't get anywhere near monkeys!